It's time to get serious.......

Now that the calendar has rolled over to December and the temperature has dropped below 45 on a consistent basis it is time to get serious about training for next year's season. I am sure, in fact positive, that I am starting much later than a vast majority of the folks out there but as mentioned in my earlier posting I do not have too many expectations going into this season. I just completed a very informal "Prep" stage and am moving into 3 weeks of "Base 1". I am slated for about 8-10 hours/week of bike time during this phase with some additional time spent in the gym doing various strength building, flexibility, and core work. I also am planning ("aren't we always" of seriously attacking the diet. I have my own internal goal of dropping about 25 pounds between now and the beginning of the racing season, while at the same time increasing my power to have a significant impact on my power/weight ratio.

This is a bit of a stretch goal but I am under some self pressure to meet it since the new bike that I promised myself (and more importantly was agreed to by my wife) upon reaching that goal has already been procured........ooops. (see picture above)

Unfortunately the only real significant area of "useless" calories that can be eliminated from my current habits are those that come from the bottles of Chimay and Leffe that are commonly present in my fridge. To make sure I did not have any temptations once the real training started I took it upon myself to remove those items from the fridge over the weekend. Don't worry, they were disposed of properly...meaning that I used the appropriate shaped glass to enjoy each and every one.

Now it is time to get down to some serious training that was further motivated by our team training session yesterday morning where we learned some great stretches and some excellent core workouts, but most importantly I was in a room full of skinny guys that left me with a strong desire to be one of them.

Wish me luck, I will need it.

Off to the weight room.......